The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-02-17

is broken up? Trouble, trouble!" But do
you gain anything by brooding over your
nisfortunes, by sitting down in a dark room,
by comparison of the sweet past with the
bitter present? "No; that makes things
worse" But I have to tell you to-day that
the Christ of all sympathy presents Himself.
Is there anybody in this house that can get
along without sympathy? do not think
would live a day without it. And yet there
are great many who seem to get along
without any divine sympathy. Their fortune
in the counting room, or in the store, or in
the insurance company takes wings and flies
away. They button up a penniless pocket.
They sit down in penury where once they had
af1luence, and yet there is no Jesus to stand
by them and say: ''Oh, man, there are
treasures that never fail, in banks that never
break! 1 will take care of you. I own the
cattle on thousand hills, and you shall never
want" They have no such divine Saviour to
say that to them. l do not know how
they get along. Death comes to the
nursery. One voice less in the house
hold. One less fountain of joy and
laughter. Two hands less to be busy all day.
Two feet less to bound through the hall
Shadow after shadow following through that
household, yet no Jesus to stand there and say:
II am the shepherd. That lamb is not lost.
l took it off the cold mountains. Ais we'll"
Oh, can you tell me the mystery? Can you
solve it? Tell me how it is that mon and
women with aches, and pains, ard sor-
rows, and losses, and exasperations, and be-
reavements, can get along without SYM
pathizing Christ? l cannot understand it.
But come here to say this morning that if
you really want divine sympathy you can
have it. There are two or three passages of
Scripture that throb with pity and kindness
and love- "Cast thy burden on the Lord and
be will sustain thee" "Come unto Me all ye
who are weary and heavy laden and I will
give you rest" Oh, there are green pastures
where the heavenly shepherd leads the sick
and wounded of the flockl When all the
other trees of the orchard fail, God has one
tree of fruit for his dear children. Though
the organ walls out its requiem, there comes
afterward a song, chant, an anthem, a bat
tie march, a coronation, a victory. Do you
not want the sympathy of Jesus? I offer it
this morning to every man and woman in this
house, you need him. Oh, how much you
need him
There was a chaplain in the army wounded
unto death. While lying there on the field
he heard at a great distance off some one cry
! ing out in great pain: "Oh, my Godl" and he
said to himself: II am dying, but l think,
perhaps. could help that man. Although l
can't walk, I'll just roll over to where he is. !"
So he rolled over in his own blood, and rolled
over the bodies of the slain, and rolled on
until he came to where the other man was
dying, and put, as it were, his wound against
that wound and his sorrow against that sor-
row, and helped to alleviate it. And so it
seems to me that Jesus Christ hears the groan
of our sorrow, the groan of our poverty, the
groan of our wretchedness and comes to the
relief. He comes rolling over sin and sorrow
to the place where we lie on the battlefield,
| and He puts over US the arm of His everlast-
ing love; and l see that arm and hand are
wounded, and as He puts that arm over us 1
can hear him say: II have loved thee with an
everlasting love" Oh, that you might feel
this morning the power and coincidence of
! synlpathizing Jesus!
| Further, remark: The last great install
ment paid for our redemption was the demise
of Christ The world has seen many dark
days. About fifteen summers ago there was
a very dark day when the sun was eclipsed.
| The fowl at monday went to their perch, and
we felt gloom as we looked at the astronom-
| ical wonder. 1t was dark day in London
when the plague was at its height, and the
! dead with uncovered faces were taken in open
carts and dumped in the trenches 1t was
| dark day when the earth opened and
| Lisbon sank; but the darkest day since
! the creation of the world was the day when
! the carnage of Calvary was enacted. 1t was
! about noon when the curtain began to be
| drawn. 1t was not the coming on of night
| that soothes and refreshes; it was the swing
| ing of great gloom all around the heavens
! God hung it, AS when there is dead one in
the house you bow the shutters or turn the
| lattice, so God in the afternoon shut the
windows of the world. As it is appropriate
| to throw black pail upon the coffin as it
/ passes along, so it was appropriate that every
thing should be somber that day as the great
hearse of the earth rolled on, bearing the
I corpse of the King
A mans last hours are ordinarily kept sa-
cred However you may have hated or carica-
tured a man, when you hear he is dying 81
| lence puts its hand on your lips, and you
would have a loathing for the man who could
stand by death bed making faces and scof-
fing. But Christ in his last hour cannot be
left alone. What! pursuing him yet after so
| long pursuit. You have been drinking his
tears, do you want to drink his blood? They
! came up closely, so that Notwithstanding the
darkness, they can glut their revenge with the
contortions of his countenance. They ex-
anime his feet. They want to feel for them
selves whether those feet are really spiked
They put out their hands and touch the
spikes, and bring them back wet with blood,
and wipe them on their garments.
Women stand there and weep, but can do
no good. 1t is no place for r-hearted
women. 1t wants heart that crime has
turned into granite The waves of mans
hatred and of hell's vengeance dash up against
the mangled feet, and the hands of sin and
pain and torture clutch for His holy heart
Had He not been thoroughly fastened to the
cross they would have torn Him down and
trampled Him with both feet. How the
cavalry horses arched their necks and champed
their bits, and reared and snuffed at the
| blood. Had Roman officer called out for a
light his voice would not have been heard in
the tumult; but louder than t'-o clash of the
spears, and the wailing of yomanhood, and
the neighing of the chargers, .n, the below
ing of the crucifers, there comes a voice
crashing through, loud, clear, overwhelm-
ing, terrific. 1t is the groan of the
dying son of God Lookl What scenei
| Look, oh world, at what you have done!
lift the covering from that maltreated Christ
to let you count the wounds and estimate the
cost. Oh, when the nails went through
Christ's right hand and Christ's left hand
that bought both your hands with all their
power to work, and lift. and write. When
the nail went through Christ's right foot and
Christs left foot-that bought your feet,
with all their power to walk, or run, Oh
climb. When the thorn went into Christ'a
temple-that bought your brain with all its
power to think and plan. When the spear
cleft Christ's side-that bought your heart
with oil its power to love, and repent, and
pray. Oh, sinner, come backl
If a man Is in no pain, if he is prospered, if
he is well, and he asks you to come, you take
your time and you say: II can't come now.
I'll come after while. There is no haste y
But if he is in want and trouble you say: IL
must go right away. / must go now" To
day Jesus stretches out before you two
wounded hands, and He begs you to come.
Go and you live. Stay away and you die
Oh, that to Him who bought us, we might
give all our time, and all our prayers, and oil
our success! l would we could think of moth
ing else, that We could do nothing else but
come to Christ He is SO fair, He is SO Low.